Corey Johnson said NYPD should not wait until September for charges in Eric Garner case

By Erin Durkin

|Daily News City Hall Bureau|

Jul 18, 2018 | 6:30 PM

Police putting Eric Garner in a chokehold on Staten Island. (Obtained by News)

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The NYPD should not wait until September to start disciplinary proceedings against the cop whose chokehold killed Eric Garner, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Wednesday.

The department said this week that it would go forward with departmental charges against officer Daniel Pantaleo if the Justice Department does not make a decision on charges in its own civil rights probe into the death by Aug. 31.

Previously, the city had said it was waiting for the Justice Department to wrap up the case. Four years after Garner’s death, however, the city said it had given the feds long enough to decide what to do.

But Johnson said Wedneday the move does not go far enough, and the city should move immediately.

“It shouldn’t have taken this long,” he told reporters at City Hall. “Period. It shouldn’t have taken this long. And we shouldn’t have to wait until September for disciplinary proceedings to begin.”

Johnson called for Pantaleo to be fired. “Pantaleo should be terminated, and any officer that was involved in misconduct around this should not be on the force as well,” he said.

After a Tuesday rally, which included Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, on the anniversary of the Staten Island man’s death, Mayor de Blasio’s spokeswoman said the mayor agrees the process has stretched on too long.

“We share the family’s frustration. The process has taken too long, and the NYPD is no longer waiting for the (Justice Department) to begin disciplinary proceedings,” said spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie.